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SBURNE'S PROCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

D. BICKFORD, OF VESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND.

WINDOW-SASH SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 27,032, dated February 7, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANA BICKFORD, of Westerly, in the county ofWashington and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Friction-Roller Balances for IVindow-Sash; and I dohereby declare the followino' to be a full, clear,

I and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a front elevation of a window frame and sash with myimprovement, and Fig. 2, a front view of the friction roller.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts in eachligure.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is a short spring.

B is a friction roller.

C is a ratchet wheel connected with the roller.

D is a ratchet.

E E are bearings connected with the point of the spring and supportingthe friction roller and ratchet wheel.

F F are screws that connect the spring with the window casing.

The arrangement of the friction roller with the ratchet and ratchetwheel allows the roller to turn freely, as shown by the red arrow inFig. l, when the sash is being raised, and holds it firmly when the sashis stationary, and being lowered, thus producing suiicient friction tobalance the sash.

The improvement of this over other Side frictions is, that only theweight of the sash has to be raised while in other side frictions theweight of the sash and the strength of the friction spring have to beraised atthe same time.

I do not claim combining the spring actuating rollers with the edge ofthe window sash as in the case of Charles H. Dana, nor do I claimhanging the friction roller in a box or bearing, having a horizontalshank which works horizontally, back and forth through a barrel and hasa spiral spring wound round it for operating the box as in Benj. I-I.Bradleys case; nor do I claim the arrangement of the helical springbrake or its mechanical equivalent within the friction roller and on theshaft thereof, as in the case of Anios Sevey, nor do I claim the spiralspring in any form for it will lose its strength in a short time, but

What I do claim and wish to secure by Letters Patent is- The combinationof the Hat or sheet spring in combination with the bearings and frictionroller arranged so as to turn freely or stationary one way as describedin my specification.

DANA BICKFCRD. Vitnesses JAMES Gr. HILL, EDWIN LEE BROWN.

